Moreton-in-Marsh: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done right where the car stands around Moreton-in-Marsh, is normally all it needs when found before your motor runs. Reading in advance? Then the rest covers why it happens and what to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels in Aston Magna, as well as Moreton-in-Marsh, carry on two fluids; your engine takes just your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for the two, while some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the pump happens constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. It is in the gap that the error lives.
Moreton-in-Marsh: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
Hurry follows from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off A429, or heading home in the car park at Black Bear Inn.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once started, carries on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Moreton-in-Marsh or out in Dorn.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt in Moreton-in-Marsh or a driveway over in Bourton-on-the-Hill. Seconds, that's all.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it beside the diesel filler? Then look below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at the nearest station? Check with the person who drove the car last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Anywhere around Gloucestershire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of High Street, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both sit under a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
Moreton-in-Marsh: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the vehicle on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Esso, Texaco or another forecourt will usually help pushing the car away if you ask. On your own drive in Moreton-in-Marsh? Then your car stays put.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. On the M40, under 25 miles from Moreton-in-Marsh, that means the next junction. Distance counts — a quick hop across Moreton-in-Marsh is a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to Gloucester — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Moreton-in-Marsh, and what takes place next
Outside St David's Church of England Primary School, close to Moreton-in-Marsh and Batsford War Memorial or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Both the work and the price rest on three answers — which liquid, which quantity, and whether it's run — so we ask. That price comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. After your filter is cleaned — or replaced, where required — fresh diesel goes in, and then your car is tested. The engine is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before our technicians head off.
If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Moreton-in-Marsh itself
Moreton-in-Marsh is a small town in Gloucestershire, situated in the Cotswolds at an elevation of 129 metres. Moreton-in-Marsh lies near the villages of Dorn, Batsford, and Lower Lemington, and is approximately 24.7 miles from Gloucester. Moreton-in-Marsh has a population of around 5015 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Moreton-in-Marsh is also relatively close to London, being about 75.2 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Moreton-in-Marsh and across Gloucestershire
Moreton-in-Marsh is a town, and the vans that cover it also work the places near it, Batsford and Lower Lemington among them, across the GL postcode area. Quote a postcode beginning GL56 0, and our van gets there quickest.
No need to move the vehicle. We drain it where it is — a side street near St David, a lay-by on the way to Queen Victoria Gardens, a drive. Guessing doesn't help at the back of St David's Centre, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; phone and check.
In short, for Moreton-in-Marsh motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in Gloucestershire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — and so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.